Love Takes Your Breath Away

by Caleigh Hernandez

  Adding the finishing touches to my makeup, the natural blush to my cheeks is the sun-kissed look complements of our time poolside this afternoon. After our cabana sexercises, Diego and I enjoyed the sun, the pool and the food.

  Mmmmm. The food. Diego lovingly fed me the bite-sized treats. Catching the fruit juices with his thumb, cleaning the chocolate smudges with his tongue. The memory causes a soft sigh.

  I turn to grab tonight’s dress hanging from the hook on the wall. Mazzy insisted I needed it for this weekend’s trip to Vegas. I’m still clueless about tonight’s events, but I’m happy to put on this exquisite little cocktail dress with its heart-shaped corset top. The primarily black satin dress is blocked with lace on the left side of the bodice and hand-sewn on pearls and crystals on the other. A full-pleated white satin accent separates the sections like a sash. The skirt, a short collection of black satin pleats, creates a ruffled look to the hem.

  Stepping into the dress, I slide it into position. When my eyes look up, I catch a glimpse of my forever behind me in the mirror. His eyes are filled with his—

  “I’m the luckiest man in the world,” he declares. Yeah, that’s the look. He steps forward to help me with the zipper. When he reaches the top, he bends down to place a trail of kisses up from the top of my dress to the back of my neck.

  Instinctively, my head drops to my chest and rolls to one side. He continues the trail to that spot behind my ear. “I know it goes without saying, love, but you’re the most beautiful woman in all of Las Vegas tonight.”

  “So what was it we were doing tonight?” It’s a shot in the dark, but maybe I can trip him up while he’s stuck in admiration.

  He lets out a short laugh with the shake of his head. “Yes, you’re distractingly stunning, bella, but you’re not getting one over on me that easily.”

  Turning in his arms that are now encasing me, I look up into the chocolate depths of his eyes. With a brush of my hand against the seam of his suit pants, “Does that mean I could do more to extract the information from you?” I bat my lashes for the added effect.

  “Not tonight, bella,” pressing a kiss to my temple. “Now, are we ready?”

  I turn around to inspect my reflection, but I’m taken aback by the man framing my small figure. He’s dressed in his black Armani suit paired with a stark white dress shirt and a brilliant high-sheen raw silk black tie. If you look close enough, the tie has a black on black design of music notes. My music man. A chance smirk graces my face.

  He really loves me.

  A few years ago, instead of music notes, that design would have been something soccer related. Whom am I kidding? A few years ago there wouldn’t be a tie around that beast of a neck or a ring on my finger declaring he’s mine and I’m his.

  As I reach for my lip gloss, I notice his ensemble is complete with the custom cuff links I had made for him as a wedding gift. Each link a guitar amplifier sporting one half of my title for him: Music Man. Engraved on the underside of each are the letters L-Y-S-M-S-M. The acronym for our phrase of choice expressing just how much we love each other: Love You So Much, So Much.

  With a couple of swipes of the nude gloss, I’m as ready as I’ll ever be sans heels. Walking out of the bathroom, I get a whiff of Diego’s signature scent: vanilla mixed with a hint of mint. It’s intoxicating and falters my forward progress. By the sound he makes, I can tell he’s amused with my befuddled mind. It can’t be helped. He’s the only thing that can distract me more than music, and that’s saying a lot. The man is the amplifier to my instrument and everything I feel for him, around him, is charged by him.

  I finish making my way over to our hotel suite closet. While I’m not lacking in the clothing, my shoes – even for our weekend getaway – could have their own room. I confess…I have a bit of a shoe obsession. Which is a bit of a problem right now. Where are my custom-jeweled Louboutins?

  “Looking for these?”

  I turn to see Diego on the bed with my prized heels dangling from his fingertips. He pats the bed for me to come and sit down. When I oblige, he kneels before me and gently raises one leg. Sliding the first shoe on my foot, he trails his finger up the back of my calf and knee causing a shiver to ripple through me. He repeats the process with the other foot. This time a slight moan escapes. I’m not one for tiaras and crowns, but I don’t object to my Prince Charming treating me like precious royalty.

  On a sigh, I declare my state of ready. My eagerness to learn the surprise getting the better of me. My nerves a whisper from shattering. My heart a split second from erupting or imploding…it kind of feels like both.

  Knock, knock. I startle at the unexpected sound announcing a guest at the door.

  “It’s just Baz and Mazzy, Izzy,” he says soothingly. I think I hear him laugh as he passes me making his way toward the hall to go let them in.

  Satisfied with my reflection in the floor length mirror, I grab my small black satin and bead clutch from the dresser and make my way to the commotion in the common area of the suite.

  Shockingly beautiful, as always, is Mazzy in her LBD and red ski high stilettos with these sinfully sexy bows tied around her tiny ankles. Looking ever the Victoria’s Secret model and less the highly sought after music producer working at my label. Tonight’s look includes a bottle of my favorite bubbly.

  Sebastian is as jaw dropping as always. Even with a hair out of place, it looks like he meant to do it. In jeans and a t-shirt, the man has ladies promising to convert him and men begging to be seduced by him. In his slim black Gucci suit with rich purple silk shirt, he was simply sex on a stick, no matter what team you bat for.

  Closing the distance between us, Mazzy gives the bottle of bubbly a wiggle. Her silent gesture asking me if I’d like a glass. With a snort from her, it’s clear my message was delivered with my incredulous look: do you have to ask?

  Without a word, Mazzy is handing the bottle to Diego in the unspoken conversation of opening it. With a pop, Diego has expertly opened the bottle and avoided the movie fav of the ever theatrical, not to mention wasteful, of the over-bubbling champagne. Their silent conversation continues as he wordlessly hands her back the bottle and she proceeds to pour.

  “A toast,” declares Mazzy with a raise of her glass after handing each of us our own.

  “Izzy, I know we’ve kept you in the dark, but we swear it’s all out of love. When this night is over, I hope you’ll see just how much you mean to all of us.”

  In an echo of cheers and raised glasses, they chant, “To Izzy.”

  I’m overcome with emotion and unable to control the spill from my eyes their sentiments cause. I’m choked up and rendered stupefied. What’s so special about me?

  Chapter Four:

  A Night of Surprises

  After we relaxed in our suite and finished the bottle of champagne, the secret keepers announce it’s time to get going. I considered reattempting my earlier tactics of trying to find out what was planned, but think better of it. I’m on edge. I’m not sure if my nerves can handle their amusement at my need-to-know state of being.

  Stepping out of the elevators, I realize we didn’t arrive on the lobby & casino floor, but rather the second floor. I’m not intimately familiar with the hotel, but I’m pretty certain that we’re not hanging out at the arcade and roller coaster I know this floor boasts.

  Mazzy and Sebastian are lost in conversation, but Diego catches the puzzled look on my face. With a squeeze of my hand, he just simply nods. I’m sure the gesture was meant to convey we’re where we need to be, but it only confuses me more.

  Without realizing it, he’s herded me to a different section, past the arcade and the rollercoaster. We’re in the banquet rooms area. All is fairly quiet, save for the silent hum of voices coming from the room named Bryant Park.

  That appears to be where we’re headed.

  Wait. “Where are Maz and Baz?” I lost them in my puzzlement. “Shouldn’t we wait for them?” Their sudden disappearing act has me quite nervous.
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  With a whoosh, the doors to the occupied Bryant Park banquet room swing open and I’m floored. There before us in a decked out room are our family and friends dressed to the nines beaming at me. Standing front and center are Mazzy and Sebastian.

  My heart swells...they did this for me.

  We make our way into the crowd. Congratulations being doled out with the customary hug and the occasional hand squeeze with the kiss on the cheek, but generally the warm smiling faces and well-wishers let us make our way to where Diego is guiding me.

  There in the center of the dance floor, Mazzy and Baz gesture for me to join them at center stage, so to speak. Shaking my head, I wonder how Diego managed all this.

  As I take my place next to Mazzy, she begins to speak, “Friends, family, loved ones, as you all know we’re here to celebrate Diego and Izzy’s wedded bliss.” She looks back to me, “Surprise!”

  Her announcement answered by the room with whistles, hoots, the random “surprise” and laughter. I can feel my face blush as heat rises to the surface of my cheeks; it’s my natural reaction to being the center of attention.

  Mazzy continues, “Izzy from the day Diego proposed, he was dead set on making you his wife and giving you the wedding you deserve. You fought him at every turn. Insisted you didn’t need all the fluff,” gesturing toward the simple elegant décor of the room. “When he agreed to Vegas, it was with the understanding that you’d let him throw you a party.”

  I nod, remembering the conversation well. Diego wasn’t happy with a Vegas wedding, but I made my case for it claiming intimate and meaningful. Those vows were for each other, Elvis, Mazzy, and Sebastian.

  Sebastian takes over, “So we took your overly simple ideas and made them sparkle here in the City of Baz. Or the City of Sin,” with a wave of his hand that says, ‘you can be wrong.’ “This was no easy task with you insisting on handling everything. Control freak!”

  More laughter, myself included. He’s right.

  “Now. Enjoy your party. Love you,” finishes Mazzy.

  Dinner was this delicious selection between a surf & turf plate and chicken, both paired with superb side dishes. All planned and prepared by the amazing Sebastian. I look to my husband to see him wrapped up in an animated conversation with Baz and Alonso. Probably talking fútbol.

  The staff are clearing the dinner plates and bringing out champagne.

  It’s the first time this evening I’ve had a moment to myself. A moment to take in all that Diego, Sebastian, and Mazzy did for me. I scan the expanse of the banquet room. There must be more than a hundred people here. They all came here for me. For us.

  A smile breaks across my face. “Are you picturing them naked?” asks Mazzy.

  “What the fuck?” I ask a bit incredulously but mostly with amusement. Laughing, I continue, “Why the fuck would I be picturing my guests naked?”

  “In case you wanted to say something.”

  “I know that I may not prefer to speak in front of large groups, but what it doesn’t mean is that I need to picture my guests naked in order to do so.” I’m cracking up.

  The light dinner music the deejay was playing stops and Mazzy stands. Why didn’t I notice earlier that she still had the microphone?

  “Ladies and gentlemen,” Mazzy starts. “Tonight a very important person wasn’t able to be here physically, but we’ve managed to get the next best thing. Without further ado, a message from Diego’s grandfather, Enzo.”

  With that, on the screen behind the deejay’s setup pops up an image of one of the greatest men I’ll ever know. The man that shaped and molded my husband. The only immediate family Diego or I have.

  During our tumultuous times, Lito, short for grandfather in Spanish, was my source of hope and solace. He was a big reason I didn’t give up on Diego even when giving up was all I wanted to do. He insisted that patience and a little tough love would reveal the man that deserved my heart.

  “Mi bella preciosa,” Lito starts, addressing me in the same manner as Diego. My heart swells.

  “I’m sorry I couldn’t be there. Even without seeing you, I have no doubt that you’re the most beautiful bride ever.

  “Congratulations, mija. I’d say welcome to the family, but you’ve been a part of ours for nearly a decade now. Desde el momento que entraste en nuestras vidas, eres el amor y la luz que nos completa.” From the moment I walked into their lives, I was the light and love that completed them. It’s pretty clear Diego got his silver tongue from his grandfather.

  “Diego, mi hijo…eres mi vida.” Diego, my son. You are my life. “When your mama left us, I wondered how I would survive burying my daughter. Then I looked down at your face and through those tears, I saw her and I knew that you were what saved me from that hell.

  “Yesterday, you made one of the greatest decisions of your life. You married mi belleza,” I love how possessive these men are of me. Involuntarily, each claim flushes my cheeks. “There’s so much of your mom and grandmother in her, I swear they handpicked her from heaven.” That got the collective “ah” from our guests.

  “Now, they got her to you, keeping her is up to you. Cherish her like the angel she is, strive to make her dreams a reality, and ALWAYS say you’re sorry, even if it’s not your fault.

  “Love you both con todo…oh and grand babies. I need grand babies.” Hushed chuckles run through the large room.

  The screen goes black. There’s a break in the noise. A momentary lapse of silence, too quickly broken by the feedback from the microphone in Mazzy’s hands.

  “So, it’s my duty and honor to stand before you all to say a few words as Izabella’s maid of honor, best friend, soul sister, and kindred spirit.

  “When Izzy and I met our freshman year at UC San Diego, I never pictured we’d be here, like this. We couldn’t have been more different, until we discovered we couldn’t have been more the same. Being roommates will do that for ya.

  “In no time, we were a match made in heaven. A bit unavoidable and expected when you share the same major and sleeping quarters.

  “Izzy was so carefree and a bit wild when she wasn’t focused and determined to do well in school. She had a plan and nothing could deviate her from it. Especially inconsequential men. ‘A dime a dozen’ as she’d say and most never got a second date,” with this she winks at Sebastian. I let out a soft chuckle and I feel a squeeze on my leg.

  I meet Diego’s eyes. They say, “I win” with a hint of arrogance. Whom am I kidding? A lot of arrogance.

  “Learning about Izzy, I was amazed, even enamored by her spirit, her will to be happy, and her unaffected love for life. Always the walking encyclopedia of clichés and quips, Izzy’s most used quip applied to moments and time, ‘Waste not, want not,’ she’d say.”

  Turning to my husband, “D, when she found you, she did just that.”

  “Diego, thank you for loving my Izzy. For taking every opportunity to show her just how amazing the rest of us can see she is. For being the answer to all of her dreams. Thanks for being her second best friend,” she aims a wink and a blown kiss in his direction. “And thanks for convincing the serial first-date woman to say yes to a second date. I’ve never seen her happier.

  “Izzy, my love, where do I start? You’re the sister I never had and I love you for forever and longer. When you met Diego, I thought you’d lost it. You rambled on for days about Sebastian’s friend.” Framing the last couple of words with air quotes. “Kinda odd to be swooning over a guy you met while on a date with another guy, don’t ya think?”

  I shrug. The heart wants what the heart wants. Or in this case, my lust-crazed hormones wanted what my lust-crazed hormones wanted.

  “Clearly you were too much woman for Baz,” her joke triggers a dull laugh from our guests and a roll of the eyes from Sebastian.

  “We always talked about how today would go. The day that you promise your forever to the man you love and not having them here.

  “I know that today is especially challenging without you
r mom and dad. I’m sorry for that. I’m sure they’re in rock ‘n roll heaven and reveling in your day. Scratching their heads, wondering how their music girl ended up with a jock,” she delivers with a touch of disdain, but the sniffle-snort noise she makes alerts me she’s as affected as I am by her words, if not also slightly amused with herself.

  I smile through the tears. I miss them.

  “With that being said, even from way up there, they undoubtedly see the love Diego has for their little girl and how happy he makes you.

  “Diego, Izzy, today is about celebrating something we all knew one day would happen. Hey, Baz. Who won the pool?” looking in Sebastian’s direction, he’s shaking his head back and forth. “No one?” With a shrug, he gives her the answer.

  “It’s a good thing dinner was on you tonight, Diego.” Ever the one for a laugh, Mazzy always delivers on the comic relief.

  “In all seriousness, my loves, may your days be filled with love and your nights with love making. Never take each other for granted. Never go to bed angry and always say, ‘I love you’. Take each ‘for worse’ knowing that there’s a ‘for better’ to follow.”

  Shifting back to face the room of guests, “Here’s to Izzy and Diego. Congratulations!”

  Cheers of congratulations filled the room, and then the customary clinking of the glasses.

  Feeling very emotional after what Mazzy said, I’m more than happy to oblige our guests.

  Before I realize it, Diego has up-righted me out of my seat and we’re in mid-sweep of his customary public display of affection. On the outside, to the rest of the group—this kiss is a theatrical PG moment. To us, this is mental and emotional warm-ups for tonight…for forever.

  He closes the distance between our lips, and all at once, I’m breathless and lost in his kiss. It’s tender and passionate, filled with need and domination. It’s his silent promise of so much more than forever. Diego has a way of robbing me of the reality around me, making me aware of only us and how he makes me ache with every fiber of my being for everything he’s promising.